Create and customize Dashboards

Customize your dashboards and widgets for the best account overview.

Every view in Analytics comes with a default "My Dashboard." While the default Dashboard may suffice, the real usefulness of Dashboards lies in your ability to create and customize them the way you want.

Dashboards contain one or more widgets (up to 12 per Dashboard) that give you an overview of the dimensions and metrics you care about most. The steps outlined in this article will teach you how to create and customize a new Dashboard. (You can follow many of these steps to edit existing Dashboards, as well).

Table—plots a table of your active users against up to 3 selected dimensions.

To add a widget to a Dashboard:

Create a new Dashboard and select Blank Canvas, or click + Add Widget on an existing Dashboard to open the widget editor.

Select the type of widget.

Configure the widget’s dimensions, metrics and other options. These vary depending on the type of widget. Scroll or use the search box to locate the specific metric or dimension you want.

You can limit the data shown by the widget by clicking Add a filter. Filters let you include or exclude data in the specified dimension that match your filter criteria. You can add multiple rows to your filter definition. All conditions must be met for the filter to work.

Report and Dashboard filters are not the same as view filters. View filters permanently change your data, while report and Dashboard filters only limit the data displayed in the report or Dashboard. Dashboard filters are specific to the Dashboard in which you define them.

You can link the widget to a report or a URL. Doing so makes the widget title a link, taking you to the specified report or web page. To link to a report, begin typing a report name. Analytics will autocomplete your entry, trying to match it to an existing report. Alternatively, you can copy and paste the report’s URL into this field.

Enter a Widget Title or accept the suggested title.

Click Save.

Add a linked report directly to your Dashboard

Another way to link a report to your Dashboard is to add it directly from the Analytics reporting tool.

Locate or create the report you want to see in your Dashboard.

Click Add to Dashboard below the report title.

Select an existing Dashboard, or create a new one by clicking New Dashboard.

Select the check boxes for the Dashboard widgets you want to include (e.g., table, pie chart, timeline). You can add up to 2 widgets per report to your Dashboard. You can change the widget titles using the Click to Edit links.

Click Add to Dashboard.

Your new linked report widget opens on the Dashboard you selected. Use the widget title link to open the underlying report.

Figure 3: Adding a linked report to a Dashboard.

Linked report limitations

Linked reports can’t have metric filters or secondary dimensions. If you try to add a report with a metric filter or secondary dimension, you will see a warning icon. Hover over the icon to see the warning message. You can still add the report, but it will not include the filter or secondary dimension.

You can only embed the Data view of a report in your Dashboard. If you try to add a report that uses another view of the table (e.g., Percentage, Performance, Comparison or Pivot), you will see a warning icon. Mouse over the icon to see the warning message. You can still add the report, but it will display only the Data view.

Linked reports display only the first two metric columns from your reports. If your report contains more than two metrics, additional metrics will not be displayed in the Dashboard.

Figure 4: Linked report warning messasge.

Edit a widget

To modify an existing widget, mouse over the widget title, then click the Edit (pencil) icon.

To delete an individual widget, mouse over the widget title, then click the Close (X) icon.

Figure 5: Edit a widget.

Note: you cannot undo deleting a widget.

Clone a widget

You can create an exact copy of a widget using the Clone widget link. This is convenient when you want use one widget as a base for another.

Figure 6: Clone a widget.

Add segments to your Dashboard

As in Analytics reports, you can add segments to your Dashboard, allowing you to compare and contrast metrics generated by different session or user groupings.

To edit an existing segment, click the segment label at the top of your Dashboard. To add a segment, click the empty +Add segment label.